The Army West Point Skeet & Trap Team plays an integral role in the military development of cadets.  As one of the Academy’s voluntary marksmanship programs, Skeet & Trap provides cadets with the opportunity to refine their shooting abilities, strengthen leadership skills, and cultivate a deep respect for the shooting sports.

The team competes year-round in four major disciplines: American Skeet, American Trap, Sporting Clays, and 5-Stand, where cadets excel in competition while building camaraderie and serving as leaders among their peers, solidifying their reputation as a premier collegiate shooting program. 

Through involvement on the Skeet & Trap team, cadets are able to develop essential skills that will serve them throughout their careers as Army officers.

Competitive club sports provide cadets with the opportunity to train, compete, and lead. The 17 competitive cadet club teams are some of the most prominent and recognizable programs at West Point.

These clubs have achieved recognition as national champions, world cup invitees, world record holders, Olympians, and a host of regional and state champions. The clubs travel across the U.S. to compete, with the cost of travel and equipment funded solely by donors and profits from DCA retail operations.

The Cadet Spirit Support endowment supports over 200 cadets participating in the spirit support clubs that include the Cadet Pep Band, the Mule Riders, the Rally Cannon Crew, the Tank Crew, Pipes and Drums, the Cadet Media Group, WKDT, and the Army and cadet company mascots.

The Department of Physical Education is charged with developing warrior leaders of character who are physically fit and mentally resilient by engaging cadets in activities that promote and enhance physical excellence.

Programs like the Human Performance Laboratory and the Combatives Center of Excellence strengthen and enhance the cadet-centered educational environment, delivering a militarily relevant and scientifically grounded physical development program.

This endowment will support a team with a threefold mission: to develop leadership and confidence under demanding and unforgiving conditions; to compete and excel in intercollegiate, military, and civilian skydiving competitions; and to serve as a strategic communications platform, showcasing precision and professionalism during freefall demonstrations at public events.

This 60-year-old team is the oldest continuously operating competitive parachute team in the U.S. military. It has earned over 100 individual national medals, three national championships, and set four state records and three national records in the past five years.

Located in the basement of Bradley Barracks, the approximate 4,000-square-foot center will provide the full spectrum of technology-based simulation training programs, offering the capability for the delivery of simulations to cadets to enhance training and research in the areas of marksmanship, synthetic mounted maneuver, eSports, accelerated human cognitive decision-making, and mission command planning and communications.

With the return of Great Power Competition, characterized by accelerating and massive technological, demographic, and environmental changes—along with challenges posed by a revisionist China, a revanchist Russia, a revolutionary Iran, and a rogue North Korea—the Modern War Institute prepares the Army, as part of the Joint, Combined, and Inter-Agency team, to win future conflicts by shaping the Army and West Point today.

The MWI continuously generates new knowledge and refines existing theories of war by promoting research, informed debate, and discussion among military and national security professionals, policymakers, and academics. It then integrates these insights into USMA’s military and academic programs, the broader Army, and our Joint, Combined, and Inter-Agency partners.

The Commandant’s Unrestricted Endowment and Fund are comprised of unrestricted gifts allowing the Commandant the flexibility to direct funds to existing and emerging priorities within the U.S. Corps of Cadets. The Commandant’s Unrestricted Endowment helps bridge the crucial gap between federal funding and the true cost of a cadet’s complete 47-month experience at the Academy.

In addition to the Brigade Tactical Department, the four directorates under the Commandant’s command are the Department of Physical Education, Department of Military Instruction, Directorate of Cadet Activities, and the Simon Center for the Professional Military Ethic.

The William E. Simon Center for the Professional Military Ethic (SCPME) at West Point is focused specifically on the Military Academy’s mission of Officership and character development and supporting the character integration effort across the Academy.

The desired outcome for West Point’s increased emphasis on Officership and character is West Point graduates provide the moral leadership necessary to build cohesive teams and ethically accomplish the mission.

Support will enhance the Officership Community of Practice (Center for Junior Officers), the annual Mission Command conference, Inspiration to Serve, and Character Academic Individual Advanced Development (AIADs).

Cadet Activities (DCA) provides co-curricular, recreational, cultural, spiritual, and social outlets for cadets that contribute to cadet development militarily, physically, academically, ethically, spiritually, and socially.

Every activity provides valuable leadership opportunities for cadets, placing them in charge of training, scheduling, budgeting, travel, and other operations. Annual operating funds as well as a few club endowments are needed.